1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a process for dry cleaning of fabrics comprising using a cleaning composition for dry cleaning. More particularly, the present invention relates to a process for dry cleaning comprising using a cleaning composition which shows an excellent cleaning property and property to prevent soiling of cleaned articles and provides a cleaned article with the antistatic property and softness.
2. Description of the Related Arts
Cloths and the like can be cleaned by wet cleaning which is a neutral cleaning using water, by laundry cleaning which is an alkaline cleaning, or by dry cleaning using a petroleum solvent, tetrachloroethylene, CFC-113, 1,1,1-trichloroethane, or a fluorine-containing solvent which is used in place of the restricted fluorine-containing solvents. The production of trichloroethane and the restricted fluorine-containing solvents was discontinued at the end of 1995, and solvents such as HCFC-225 and HCFC-141b are used as the solvent for dry cleaning in place of the restricted fluorine-containing solvents.
However, the use of these solvents is allowed within a limited period of time because of high coefficients of ozonosphere destruction and high coefficients of global warming although these solvents have low boiling points, can be dried rapidly and easily and give a relatively small degree of mechanical damage to cloths during drying. Moreover, HCFC-225 shows chemical attack to give damage to acrylic resins. A method cleaning which can remove soils without chemical damage to articles for cleaning is proposed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. Heisei 6(1994)-158531, in which a liquid prepared by adding a surfactant containing fluorine to a fluorocarbon liquid such as FC-51-14, FC-61-16 and FC-71-18 is used as the cleaning liquid. However, the fluorocarbon liquids show weak cleaning ability, and it is difficult to obtain satisfactory cleaning ability even when a surfactant containing fluorine is added.
Conventional cleaning compositions for dry cleaning contain a cationic or anionic surfactant having a hydrocarbon group as the lipophilic group and a nonionic surfactant as the main components and have the cleaning property and the property to prevent soiling of cleaned articles and provides cleaned articles with the antistatic property, softness and the antibacterial property. Therefore, it is not necessary that an additional surfactant is used. In recent years, fluorine-containing solvents of the so-called third generation which are fluorohydrocarbons having smaller coefficients of ozonosphere destruction and smaller coefficients of global warming are being used as the solvent for cleaning metal parts and electronic parts in place of the HCFC solvents. These solvents will be used also as the cleaning solvent for dry cleaning in place of the restricted fluorine-containing solvents. However, the fluorine-containing solvents of the third generation have considerably smaller KB values (kauri-butanol values) and show very small solubilizing ability. Therefore, surfactants having hydrocarbon groups which have heretofore been used in cleaning compositions for dry cleaning cannot be used for the fluorine-containing solvents of the third generation.
A cleaning composition which shows an excellent cleaning property and property to prevent soiling of cleaned articles, provides cleaned articles with the antistatic property and softness and can be used in combination with a fluorine-containing solvent of the third generation has been desired.